Earlier this week, State Auditor Shad White released the findings of an audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, revealing over $94 million in misused funding.
Among many other expenses revealed in the detailed audit, were two payments totaling $1.1 million to NFL legend and Mississippi Native Brett Favre from the Mississippi Community Education Center. These payments were made to Favre for speaking engagements that he did not attend.
Today, White announced that his office received a $500,000 repayment from the retired quarterback and that the remainder will be paid back in installments over the next few months.
The funds used by MCEC were from the ‘Temporary Assistance for Needy Families’ program, and a statement from White reveals that Favre was not aware of the source of the payment.
“I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole. To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid,” White says.
In a thread of tweets, Favre further explained the situation surrounding the original payments.
1/4 My agent is often approached by different products and brands for me to appear in one way or another. This request was no different, and I did numerous ads for Families First.
— Brett Favre (@BrettFavre) May 7, 2020
According to the Auditor, the money will be held in a clearing account for a period and then be sent, in full, to the Mississippi Department of Human Services to be used for TANF-appropriate expenditures.
So far, six individuals, including the former director of DHS, have been charged in what the Auditor has called the “largest public embezzlement case in state history.”
